Musical Monday-Tamara Ireland Stone Guest Playlist (Every Last Word)

Musical Monday is a feature where I talk about musicals, songs, make bookish playlists and feature authors to make bookish playlists for their own books.

Hi everyone! Oh my gosh, I am so excited because Tamara Ireland Stone, author of the Time Between Us duology and Every Last Word (published tomorrow, June 16th!) accepted my author for her to make a guest playlist for Every Last Word.

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You can download my photo and cover art here: www.tamarairelandstone.com/press. Synopsis here: www.tamarairelandstone.com/books

Huge thanks to Amber for inviting me to be part of Musical Monday.

My new novel, Every Last Word, hits shelves tomorrow, June 16^th! It’s a story about a girl named Samantha who looks perfect on the outside but feels broken on the inside, until an underground poetry club and its misfit members help her see herself in a whole new light.

Like my other books, Time Between Us and Time After Time, music plays a big role in this story. There are actually four Every Last Word playlists: The main one—which is more like the soundtrack for the story—and three more that are mentioned in the book:

• I recently shared my Every Last Word playlist/soundtrack, “Anything But Empty”, here in Justine Magazine.
  

• Over the weekend, The Lifelong Bookworm unveiled “Song For You”, the playlist Sam makes for AJ.
  

• Today, I’m here with YA Indulgences to tell you all about “Right Beside You”, the playlist Sam makes for her friend Caroline.
  

• And on Saturday, June 20, the 16-year-old who inspired Every Last Word will be sharing the playlist she created, “In The Deep.” She’ll be a guest on Gone With the Words to tell you why these songs are so special to her.

First, About Sam

Before I tell you about “Right Beside You”, there are a few things you need to know about Samantha McAllister:

• Sam has obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD)

• She feels the need to do things in sets of threes

• She has a thing for words—especially words that occur in threes 

• She loves music and lyrics

• Her playlists are important to her, and she puts a great deal of thought into how she titles each one. Here, I’ll let her explain:

Get it?

When Sam Meets Caroline

Sam is skilled at hiding her OCD from her best friends. They’re “normal” and “perfect” and they’d never understand. But everything begins to change for Sam when she meets Caroline, a quirky girl a few lockers away who wears snarky tees and openly shares her opinions.

Caroline introduces Sam to Poet’s Corner—a secret poetry club hidden beneath the school theater—and a group of people who are nothing like her friends. They read poetry aloud, wear their hearts on their sleeves, and care very little about things like clothes and makeup. Sam is drawn to them immediately.

Over time, Sam begins to feel accepted with the Poets, more “normal” than she ever has as part of the popular crowd, and with Caroline’s help, she begins to tap into the writer within—this part of herself she never even knew existed.

Caroline is a different kind of friend; one Sam can drop her guard and be herself around. They become close, even though Sam’s keeping their friendship a secret.
“Right Beside You”

Sam creates this playlist to try to capture what Caroline’s friendship means to her. “Right Beside You” comes from three words in the lyrics of “Run” by Snow Patrol:

Light up, light up,

As if you have a choice.

Even if you cannot hear my voice,

I’ll be right beside you dear.

I love all the songs on this playlist, but there are a few that are especially close to my heart because the lyrics so perfectly fit Sam, Caroline, and the story of their friendship. 

“Unwritten” by Natasha Bedingfield

No one else can feel it for you, only you can let it in.

No one else can speak the words on your lips.

Drench yourself in words unspoken,

Live your life with arms wide open.

“Shadowplay” by The Killers

I was moving through the silence without motion,

waiting for you.

In a room without a window in the corner,

I found truth.

“Somewhere Only We Know” by Keane

And if you have a minute why don’t we go

Talk about it somewhere only we know?

This could be the end of everything

So why don’t we go somewhere only we know?

“Checkered Floor” by Silversun Pickups

Concealed

Pass it on

Appeal

Play along

Are you ready to hear to the rest of “Right Beside You”? Here it is:

CLICK HERE to listen to all four of my Every Last Word playlists.

Follow me on Spotify to hear these and more.

Thanks again for hosting me, Amber. Happy Musical Monday!

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Thank you (again) Tamara for stopping by! I love Keane. And The Killers. And Natasha Bedingfield. And I like Silversun Pickups. 😉 Wasn’t that a great post? This is a great post. Let me know what you think in the comments and pick up Tamara’s book Every Last Word tomorrow!